Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-06-04
MABEL GRAY.

Hedru the story SITTING under the trees
in front of the house where she had lived
and died; the sad-faced woman who had
brayely borne her lot, and uncomplain-
ingly laid down to rest in the little church
yard at the foot of the hill, leaving no
record but the simple inscription "To die
is GAIN
Everything seemed in keeping with the
recital of her history, short and simple
though it was. Yet filed with all the
hopeless yearning of a life that must have
been bat one long sigh of disappointment.
The robin above our heads sang low in
sympathy, and the hum of the bee sank to
murmurous cadence among the marigolds
and asters while | listened to the sound of
my friends softly-uttered tribute to the
memory Of her who had borne so long and
patiently the burden of her lifetime sor-
row.
They came from the East, father, mother
and two children-son and daughter. For
months before their arrival the house had
been undergoing repairs. II was one of
h4AN'O Oit-ia0niOtiGd oADlt QNtlllIDS 50
common among the better class of farmers
whose wealth was principally in men and
women, and the result Of whose labor will
stand for generations to come as monu-
ments Of AN institution established by
violence and cancelled with blood
The old vine-covered porch disap-
peared, and 4 verandah took its place,
while the dense row OF locusts opened
ranks to let the sunshine through into the
hitherto damp and darksome rooms; the
noise of the trowel and the hammer re-
sounded through the empty corridors, and
finally died away with the falling of the
leaves and the return of snow that brought
with 1t the new family.
They were very quiet withal, and after
the first few formal calls were made and
returned, the current of life in our little
neighborhood flowed on as smoothly as if
no event had occurred to disturb the
monotony of its smooth surface, and the
winter had not yet gone ere the new house
hold ceased to create any stir.
They had never sought the society of
any, contenting themselves with such an
exchange of civilities as would preserve
them from the charge of exclusiyeness,
ignoring none of the usages of the society
into which they had voluntarily entered,
and gave no cause for the absurd rumors
that so often assail those under like cir
cumstances and from which they were not
free.
Their places were regularly filled at the
village church, and none were 10th to num-
Der them among their guests; yet the mys-
terry that must always surround those who
come into a community mheralded by a
knowledge of their antecedents chung to
them in spite of education wealth and So
cial distinction.
The mourning garb, than which no more
absurd costume could be invented, with It's
horrible suggestiveness, fit relic of a bar
barous custom, was the constant dress of
both mother and daughter, and when the
latter referred to it once with evident pain
Us worn in memory of an elder brother, no
one was cruel or uncourteous enough to
pursue the subject further.
The one popularity that came to be re-
marked more frequently as the short, dark
days of winter gradually gave place to
spring, and the genial air with its whispers
of yiolets and bluebells tempted the loiter-
ing feet into the fields and byways, was
the constant companionship that existed
hold in their long, and oftentimes solitary
walks.
The Young man, especially, seemed to
be an object of peculiar solicitude on the
part of the sister, who accompanied him
on almost all occasions, seldom leaving
him for moment, even in the company
of the father or mother, and never in that
OF the old colored woman who sometimes
accompanied them seemingly unnoticed,
but always within calling distance.
had met Mable Gray and her brother
during the winter, before this popularity
had come to be noticed, and was struck
with the careworn expression that seemed
10 be stamped upon every feature of her
cxqusitely -mclded face a care that had
in 1t something of wistfulness and some
thing of sorrow, = mingling, as it were, of
pain and pleasure not the pain arising
from physical suffering, nor the pleasure
of simple, joyous girlhood, but pain that
comes from the heartache and the pleasure
that follows duty cheerfulIy performed !;
that strangely quiet happiness that looks
from the windows Of the soul and gloriGes
the sadness it cannot remove. Hers was
the beauty of a statue rather than PIG
ture; the snowy purity of face and round
ed completeness of form that sleeps only in
the dazzling whiteness of the marble, as if
nature had given to her, one of the least
immortal OF her works, the beautifully
chiseled outlines and delicately marked
curves which art reserves for the most i'm
perishable of its creations.
Her style of dress was simple even to
plainnesss, and yet you would forget it all
in the absorbing interest Of her face, so
strangely did it attract and yet repel any
thing that seemed to invite confidence, as
if her sealwere book in which you might
write your own Joys or sorrows, but from
which yeu might never hope to read what
she had written there | have often Won
dered since in looking back to the time
when first knew Mabel Gray, what it was
that led me to contide to her keeping what
no other hHman being ever knew; and to-
day, after the lapse OF years, when she who
inspired that confidence lies in the little
churchyard yonder, | think of the happy
life that has been mine and the sad one
that was hers, and wonder if it was not so
determined for us, that she might receive
from me some of the brightness of the
youth she had never known, and thus be
unconsciously strengthened for the long,
dark wears OF trial TO which she was called,
lust AZ the flower drinks in the sunshine
and foids il away against the time of VIM
ter rain.
The brother partook very little of the
sisters strange, sad beauty, and save for
the color ia eyes and hair no one would
have detected the relationship, and though
from my intimacy with Mabel l was
thrown much in his society, the rescm-
blancc never appeared to me as it did to
others and to the day of her death | could
not have detected the relationship had it
not been told to me, they seemed so differ
ent from each other in temperament,
tastes. and all else that We usually look
for in members Of the same family.
He would have attracted little attention
except for her, and it seemed to be her
desire that he should not; so much so, in
deed, that she avoided going out with him
when she could do so without positive
rudeness, and many times | was called
upon fs defend her from the imputations
Of selfishness for declining invitations that
she refused TO accept on his account.
lie was evidently scholar, as bis bear
ing indicated, and as one would willingly
acknowledge after an hour spent In his